We will pretend Sunday didn't happen. On to Spain.

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My return to Liverpool has come and gone, and it was perfect except for the rather uninspiring effort turned in by the Reds yesterday (Sunday, September 2), and a technology mishap that scuttled plans to meet up with one of Leigh's friends from Japan who is back home in Liverpool at the moment.



The first part of the day went smoothly -- I met up with a friend of Barry who had a Kop ticket lined up for me, the same seat I had last time in fact. Things went a bit downhill from there...Arsenal went up 1-0 in the first half, we never really got back in the game, and not too long into the second half it was 2-0, which is how it ended up. After the game I seemingly entered a text mesage and phone connectivity black hole, and couldn't get any messages or phone calls for a couple of hours, so despite Leigh's friend Joe sending me at least ten text messages and trying to call, not a single one came through and we missed each other at the meeting point we had arranged. The text messages are still somehwere in the ether (Leigh -- Barry has the stuff you sent over to Joe and he's going to arrange to get it to him). The mood around town was one of frustration, with this sub-standard performance coming right on the heels of a disappointing transfer window, and it didn't get any better when we arrived at The Dispensary (Barry's post-match pub) just in time to watch Man U come from behind to beat Southampton. That's just the way it goes sometimes.



This morning was an early rise -- up at 3:30 for a 4:15 pick-up to go to the airport in Manchester. From Manchester I flew to London, then Madrid, and finally to Seville, arriving here around 5:00 p.m. this evening. This evening was all about getting oriented to a new country, but that task has been made pretty easy by the people here, who are very friendly, and very forgiving of my rather dubious attempts at speaking Spanish -- with the possible exception of the cyclist who was not pleased that I was walking in the designated cycling lane. Now in fairness to me, the cycling lane was on the left side of the pedestrian walkway, notwithstanding that they drive on the right here like we do at home, and I am also coming from Mayor Rob Ford's Toronto, a bizzaro world where wanting a cyling lane at all is considered a "war on cars", lol. The hotel is pretty amazing too; I'm pretty sure my room is bigger than my apartment. When you arrive you go into a special room to get checked in, they sit you down at a desk, then give you a tour of the place...they even have an iMac in the room for you to use.



After getting settled in it was time for a stroll around town and some dinner at one of the many patios. They're not really patios like we're used to beause there isn't really a strict separation between the restaurant and the sidwalk; it's more like all the restaurants have tables on the sidewalks and they just blend into the street and the many narrow backstreets and squares. Seville is a beautiful city, and I really haven't seen the big attractions yet, that comes tomorrow. The beautiful, narrow, winding streets are a bit of a maze, very different than what we are used to at home, which is part of its charm.



More to come tomorrow...

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Photos

Seville
The patio on the square where I had dinner this evening

Seville
Seville's winding streets

Seville Hotel
The entrance to the hotel is on the right where the two white lights are, just above the fellow walking his dog